brief
Noun pluralbriefs
Formsbriefs, briefing, briefed
Pluralbriefs
- 1Of short duration; lasting only a short time or happening quickly.
The mayor made a brief appearance at the festival before leaving for another event.
After a brief pause, the orchestra began the second movement.
Similarshort, quick, fleeting, momentary, short-lived
Oppositelong, lengthy, prolonged, extended
Note
The sense closest to the root: Middle English breef, through Old French from Latin brevis, "short." English also has two doublets from the same line, breve and, less obviously, merry. Brief measures time against what might have been, so it often attaches to things worth having longer: a reign, a respite, or "the Life of man" in Shakespeare's As You Like It.
- 2Concise; expressed in few words rather than at length.
His reply was brief but answered every question we had raised.
The manual's brief instructions fit on a single card.
Similarconcise, short, succinct, terse, pithy
Oppositelengthy, detailed, verbose, wordy
Note
Here the shortness is in the telling. Ben Jonson put it neatly: the brief style "expresseth much in little." The adjective often carries a concession, in the pattern brief but moving or brief but incisive. The shortness is admitted first and then redeemed. Said of speech or writing, it praises economy, while said of the time something lasts it simply measures.
- 3To give a person with decision-making power a summary of a recent development.
Aides brief the president every morning on overnight developments.
Officials briefed the governor before her press conference on the flooding.
Similarinform, update, advise, notify, prime
Note
Two constructions meet here. Usually the person is the object: aides brief the president, and the president was briefed on the coup. In trade reporting, though, the information itself can become the subject of a passive. RAIL in 2021 wrote that "it is being briefed that Southeastern operations will return to the private sector." Here news is put out without a named speaker.
- 4A close-fitting style of underwear without legs, worn by men or women.
The brand's newest brief uses seamless fabric that won't show under clothing.
He prefers briefs to boxers when he runs.
Similarunderpants, pants
Note
Normally plural, like trousers: a pair of briefs, or he wears briefs. The singular turns up in casual comparison and product talk, as in "for sports I usually wear a brief," where it names one style or one garment. Set against boxers, briefs are the close-cut choice, keeping the same idea of brevity as a brief skirt.
- 5A written legal argument prepared by an attorney for submission to a court.
Her appellate brief ran to sixty pages of argument and citations.
The justices and their clerks read hundreds of briefs each term.
Similarargument, submission, filing
Note
This is the brief a court actually reads: argument and citations set down by counsel and filed for decision. It is often qualified by the stage or court, as in an appellate brief. The matching verb is to brief an issue. Lawyers file and submit briefs, and judges and their clerks read them.
- 6A short news story or report, giving only the essentials of an item.
The wire service sent out a two-paragraph brief on the verdict.
Page two carried briefs on council votes, road closures, and school sports.
Similarbulletin, item, report, summary, roundup
Note
Newsrooms favor the compound news brief and the plural, so a page of briefs gathers short items together. The word once named a short letter more generally. In Shakespeare's The First Part of Henry the Fourth, Sir Michael is sent off with "this sealed brief" for the Lord Marshal. Today it is a format word in journalism, set against a full story.
- 7In law, a written summary of the factual and legal points on which a case is to be conducted.
The junior associate prepared a brief of the controlling precedents for trial counsel's use.
Counsel reviewed her briefs on the evidence the night before opening statements.
Similarmemorandum, memo, summary, outline
Note
A working paper rather than a filed one: the memorandum gathers the points of fact and law that will guide counsel through a case. It differs from the written court argument in purpose. One organizes what a lawyer needs to know, and the other persuades a judge. Lawyers prepare or review a brief in this sense, usually before trial.
- 8Extending over only a small distance or area.
The dancers wore brief costumes of sequins and fringe.
A brief strip of sand was all that remained at high tide.
Similarshort, skimpy, scanty, revealing
Oppositelong
Note
Here brevity is measured in space, and the thing measured is usually clothing: a skirt, or a pair of leopard-print trunks in Robert Drewe's The Bodysurfers (1983). Said of a garment, brief means it covers little, and the tone is often wry, as in "extremely brief but doubtless cool." The noun for close-fitting underwear carries the same idea.
- 9To prepare a written legal argument on a matter and submit it to a court.
Both parties must brief the jurisdictional issue by the end of the month.
Counsel briefed the constitutional question at length on appeal.
Similarargue
Note
The lawyer's verb takes the issue, not the court, as its object: one briefs a question, a motion or an appeal. The parties brief the jurisdictional issue, and counsel briefs the constitutional question. That object is the quickest way to tell it from the verb of informing officials, where the person being told is what gets briefed.
- 10A position, cause, or interest that one supports or advocates.
He holds no brief for the developers, but he thinks the plan deserves a fair hearing.
Throughout her career, her brief was the defense of free expression.
Note
The legal brief turned figurative: to hold a brief for someone is to speak up for them as counsel would. The Speaker in 1894 could say that a writer and her editor "hold a brief for the Pope and for Catharine against Henry VIII." The negative, hold no brief for, disclaims partisanship before offering a fair word: I hold no brief for him, but…
- 11The materials relevant to a case, delivered by a solicitor to the barrister who will act as counsel.
The solicitor delivered the brief to chambers a week before the hearing.
Her brief included witness statements, correspondence, and the instructing solicitor's notes.
Note
The English legal profession divides the work: a solicitor prepares the case and a barrister argues it. The brief is the bundle that passes between them, made up of statements, letters, documents and instructions. A barrister receives or accepts a brief and returns it when unable to act. It should not be confused with the written court argument, which goes to the judge rather than to counsel.
- 12A writ summoning a person to answer in court, or more broadly any official letter or mandate from an authority.
The sheriff served the brief on the defendant the next morning.
A brief from the crown required the towns to provision the soldiers.
Similarwrit, summons, mandate, order
Note
Here the legal document is an order rather than an argument: a writ commanding someone to answer, or more broadly any official letter or mandate. The author is an authority, not a party to the case. A modern legal reader who sees the word more often means the written argument a lawyer files, so context decides which document is in hand.
- 13A barrister serving as counsel for a party in a legal action.
His brief rose to cross-examine the prosecution's first witness.
The defendant whispered something to her brief before the judge returned.
Similarlawyer, barrister, counsel, advocate
Note
Slang that names the lawyer after the papers: the barrister who receives the solicitor's bundle becomes someone's brief. It is possessive by habit, as in my brief, her brief or the defendant's brief. It belongs to speech and informal talk about a case rather than to formal legal writing, where counsel is the word to use.
- 14A short official letter issued by the pope.
The pope issued a brief granting the monastery's request.
A brief from Rome confirmed the bishop's appointment within weeks.
Note
Within the Roman Catholic Church the official letter has a particular author, the pope, and usually travels with the adjective papal. Henry Charles Lea, writing in The Atlantic in 1891, shows the weight it could carry: a bishop published a new papal brief declaring his own excommunications valid and those of the inquisitors null. It is countable, as in a brief or briefs from Rome.
- 15A formal written answer submitted in response to a legal action brought against a party.
The defendant's brief responded to each of the plaintiff's allegations in turn.
Counsel filed a brief contesting the charges within the required time.
Note
In civil procedure the word can cover any written submission that answers a claim. The Japanese Rules of Civil Procedure of 1996 speak of "a written answer or any other brief" and require it to reach the court in time for the opponent to prepare. The answer is therefore one kind of brief rather than something set apart from briefs.
- 16A ticket of any type, such as a travel or admission ticket.
She flashed her brief at the gate and the inspector waved her through.
A scalper offered them two briefs at twice the printed price.
Similarticket
Note
Slang for a ticket of any kind, whether for travel or admission. It belongs firmly to casual speech and may puzzle a listener who does not share it. In writing, ticket is the safe choice. The use fits a word whose nouns often name small official papers, from a summons or mandate to a church collection letter.
- 17An official document in the form of letters patent permitting money to be collected in churches for a public or private purpose.
A royal brief authorised collections in every parish for rebuilding the church tower.
The churchwardens recorded the brief and the sum gathered for the sufferers.
Note
A historical term from British church life: the brief was the authorizing letter, issued by proper authority, that allowed congregations to take up a collection for a stated cause. It appears in accounts of past parish practice, sometimes as a royal brief. It describes how charity was once organized and is not used for any modern collection.
- 18A summary or abstract; a shortened version of a longer text giving its essential points.
He drew up a brief of the contract for his master to review.
The secretary's brief of the proceedings ran to a single page.
Note
Behind it is Latin brevis, "short": a brief was the small version of something larger. Thomas Nashe's The Anatomie of Absurditie (1589) promises "a briefe of their barbarisme," and Sir Thomas Overbury's "A Wife" calls each woman "a brief of womankind," the whole held in little. As a general word for a summary it is now obsolete. The idea of a condensed statement lives on in the lawyer's case memorandum. For a plain summary today, say abstract or précis.
- 19Prevalent or widespread; occurring commonly throughout a place or population.
Note
An obsolete meaning that has nothing to do with shortness: a thing that was brief was rife, common, found everywhere. Readers of older writing can be misled by it. If "short" makes no sense in the sentence, "prevalent" may be what is meant. It has no place in modern English, and using it today would simply be misunderstood.
- 20In few words; without dwelling on details.
Whence Adam faultring long, thus anſwer’d brief.
1667, John Milton, Paradise LostNote
A flat adverb: the adjective used unchanged where modern English adds -ly. In Milton's Paradise Lost (1667), Adam, after long faltering, "thus answer'd brief." The form is obsolete and poetic. Ordinary writing needs briefly, and brief used as an adverb will read as deliberate archaism.
- 21Soon or quickly; within a short space of time.
But that a ioy paſt ioy, calls out on me, / It were a griefe, to briefe to part with thee : / Farewell.
c. 1591, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”Note
Here the adverb measures how soon something happens, not how long it lasts. Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet still uses it this way: "It were a griefe, to briefe to part with thee." The sense is now obsolete and belongs to poetry. In ordinary prose, write soon or quickly. Keep it apart from the "briefly" adverb, which describes length rather than timing.
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Origin
It comes from Middle English breef, from Old French brief, from Latin brevis ("short"), which traces back to Proto-Indo-European *mréǵʰus ("short, brief"). It is a doublet of breve and merry.